January is gone already and I'm one month into my training. Thankfully the running is going better than the blog posts and I'm pretty pleased with where I'm up to so far.
I haven't been keeping a strict track of how many kms I've been doing each week; I've been more focusing on getting in 4 runs a week including a long run.
Here's how I've gone so far:
Week 1 - 3 runs - long run: 10km
Week 2 - 4 runs - long run: 18km
Week 3 - 1 run - long run 12km (race)
Week 4 - 3 runs - long run: 20km
Week 5 - 2 runs (so far; long run tomorrow)
My focus for Feb will be to make sure I'm getting in 4 runs a week and get over my 'mid-week lack of motivation slump' which manifests itself in falling asleep on the train home Wednesday afternoons...
I ran today with my friend Rhi which was great; she's done 3 marathons and it's always good to hear about real life experiences rather than just reading articles about it online.
I'm planning a long run tomorrow morning of 25km; it'll be my longest run ever but I'm feeling pretty good about it. I ran 20km last weekend at 5:55 pace and that seemed fine so I'm hoping going an extra 5km doesn't break me. Last weekend it wasn't so much the run that was challenging but the tiredness I've felt all through this week as I was recovering. It's hard to remember about recovery at times, I'm so marathon focused that I assume the actual running is the hardest part but this week I felt exhausted and it was a real challenge to get myself to train. Hopefully I'm able to bounce back well from tomorrow and really train well next week.
Friday, 31 January 2014
Saturday, 11 January 2014
Creating my training programme
Decided I need some kind of structure around my training - firstly because there's so many kms that need to be run before the big day and secondly because I've never been a 'wing it' kinda gal - it always ends in frustration and a poor result; no thanks!
That's said, going into this marathon I knew that if I attempted one of those strict 'you must do this on a Monday' type of programmes that I'd give up after missing one session and write the whole thing off as a failure. So basically I decided that the best way for me to begin would be to write my own plan and then adjust it the closer I get to the race..
To be honest I also find the programmes I read about online to be a little intimidating. I've been running my whole life but articles about 'speed sessions are essential marathon training' or 'you need to run in a group' or 'you need to do interval training' feel like they're just over complicating things. Who knows, maybe after I've crashed and burned attempting this marathon I'll think differently? For now it just seems to make sense to try to build up my kms each week as well as incorporating some time cross training at the gym. Is that over-simplifying it?
Here's what I've come up with:
Monday: Cardio at the gym
Tuesday: Short run (up to 10km)
Wednesday: Mid-week long run
Thursday: Weights at the gym
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Long or Medium run
Sunday: Long or Medium run (whichever one not done on Saturday).
So there it is. Simple and 4 runs a week. This week was the first full week of my training and aside from skipping the weights on Thursday (was too tired from the Wednesday run) I've been right on track and feeling pretty good.
Fingers crossed I can keep it up!
That's said, going into this marathon I knew that if I attempted one of those strict 'you must do this on a Monday' type of programmes that I'd give up after missing one session and write the whole thing off as a failure. So basically I decided that the best way for me to begin would be to write my own plan and then adjust it the closer I get to the race..
To be honest I also find the programmes I read about online to be a little intimidating. I've been running my whole life but articles about 'speed sessions are essential marathon training' or 'you need to run in a group' or 'you need to do interval training' feel like they're just over complicating things. Who knows, maybe after I've crashed and burned attempting this marathon I'll think differently? For now it just seems to make sense to try to build up my kms each week as well as incorporating some time cross training at the gym. Is that over-simplifying it?
Here's what I've come up with:
Monday: Cardio at the gym
Tuesday: Short run (up to 10km)
Wednesday: Mid-week long run
Thursday: Weights at the gym
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Long or Medium run
Sunday: Long or Medium run (whichever one not done on Saturday).
So there it is. Simple and 4 runs a week. This week was the first full week of my training and aside from skipping the weights on Thursday (was too tired from the Wednesday run) I've been right on track and feeling pretty good.
Fingers crossed I can keep it up!
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Week 1 summary
Weekly kms: 20
Ran 10km last Saturday and was pleased that I did it in under an hour. After about 4km I felt tired and like I wanted to stop but I told my body to shut up and kept going. Thankfully things improved after that and I made it back home feeling pretty good. I felt a lot better than the last 10km I ran in October (geez - has it really been that long?!) and although the time was nothing flash I at least made it the whole way without walking. It is a little scary though to think that my Long Run this week will be a short run in just a couple of months time.
On Sunday it was a short run - 1.6km but all uphill. It was the hill section of a run I do in the coastal town where my family has a holiday house. My sister is visiting from overseas and insisted I run the hill with her and I'm glad I did. I'm going back down there in a few months time and (fingers crossed) running the hill will be a lot easier.
Week one finished with me running just over 20km. A good start I think.
Ran 10km last Saturday and was pleased that I did it in under an hour. After about 4km I felt tired and like I wanted to stop but I told my body to shut up and kept going. Thankfully things improved after that and I made it back home feeling pretty good. I felt a lot better than the last 10km I ran in October (geez - has it really been that long?!) and although the time was nothing flash I at least made it the whole way without walking. It is a little scary though to think that my Long Run this week will be a short run in just a couple of months time.
On Sunday it was a short run - 1.6km but all uphill. It was the hill section of a run I do in the coastal town where my family has a holiday house. My sister is visiting from overseas and insisted I run the hill with her and I'm glad I did. I'm going back down there in a few months time and (fingers crossed) running the hill will be a lot easier.
Week one finished with me running just over 20km. A good start I think.
Friday, 3 January 2014
The Training Starts
Days til race: 99
Weekly kms: 8.5
Yesterday I finally made it out onto the road - only 5km but it's a start & thankfully I didn't feel like I wanted to die at the end of it. If I had to estimate my 'distance without struggling' at this stage I'd say about 10km. I'm not sure if that's too low less that 100 days from the race but it's where I am so I'll just have to work with that.
I ran today as well; only 3.5km but given that it's a Friday night and I'd usually be downing pints somewhere I'm pleased with the effort.
Both jogs were untimed which I'd like to say is some training strategy but it's really cos I can't find my Garmin (note to self: clean apartment). I'm probably a couple of weeks of solid training away from actually enjoying running, at this stage is feels a bit like I'm running in a fat suit. Running for 2 weeks is not the problem, I'm actually quite good at doing things for 2 weeks, it's after that that my enthusiasm starts to wane and I give up in favour of beer and pizza.
That's part of the reason I signed up for the marathon though, I'm sick of feeling like I never stick with my running long enough to see what I can really accomplish. I've done a few half marathons but after I'd broken 2 hours (it took me 3 attempts) all the training fell away again and I'd run 1-2 times a week at most. I'm hoping that the marathon (or more specifically the fear of the marathon) will be enough impetus for me to really put the training together and b able to run the whole way.
This weekend will be a good test as I can't even remember the last time I exercised on both a Saturday and Sunday and this week I plan on running on both. I'm assuming not being hung over will help the equation??
Weekly kms: 8.5
Yesterday I finally made it out onto the road - only 5km but it's a start & thankfully I didn't feel like I wanted to die at the end of it. If I had to estimate my 'distance without struggling' at this stage I'd say about 10km. I'm not sure if that's too low less that 100 days from the race but it's where I am so I'll just have to work with that.
I ran today as well; only 3.5km but given that it's a Friday night and I'd usually be downing pints somewhere I'm pleased with the effort.
Both jogs were untimed which I'd like to say is some training strategy but it's really cos I can't find my Garmin (note to self: clean apartment). I'm probably a couple of weeks of solid training away from actually enjoying running, at this stage is feels a bit like I'm running in a fat suit. Running for 2 weeks is not the problem, I'm actually quite good at doing things for 2 weeks, it's after that that my enthusiasm starts to wane and I give up in favour of beer and pizza.
That's part of the reason I signed up for the marathon though, I'm sick of feeling like I never stick with my running long enough to see what I can really accomplish. I've done a few half marathons but after I'd broken 2 hours (it took me 3 attempts) all the training fell away again and I'd run 1-2 times a week at most. I'm hoping that the marathon (or more specifically the fear of the marathon) will be enough impetus for me to really put the training together and b able to run the whole way.
This weekend will be a good test as I can't even remember the last time I exercised on both a Saturday and Sunday and this week I plan on running on both. I'm assuming not being hung over will help the equation??
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
New year - full of good intentions...
Days til race: 101
In October 2013 My Dad and friend Rhi both ran the Melbourne Marathon. I ran the 10km event and after puffing my way round the course in a pedestrian 53mins I felt little qualified to join in the running conversation when we went out for lunch afterwards. Deciding that it'd been on my "one day" list long enough I bit the bullet and entered the Canberra Marathon.
That was the easy bit and with 5 months til the starter's gun would be fired it was easy to imagine that I'd get all the training done, have reached my goal race-weight and be completely mentally prepared for the event. But have I bitten off more than I can chew?
January 1st has rolled around and I'm faced with the reality that this year will be the one that I'm attempting to run my first marathon; not some far off "next year" event but now. This year. Staring me right in the face and ironically I can't run from it any more. The excesses of the festive period behind me I've run out of delay time and must begin the journey - or else face the consequences (namely 5 plus hours of pain and humiliation).
So - to begin...
A few weeks ago I set out a list of New Year Goals/Resolutions that I'd follow to assist my on my path to marathon running. They are:
1. No alcohol - except for Australia Day (26.01), My best friend's wedding (15.02), Labour Day weekend (08.03) and when I catch up with my friend Pete to ask him how the hell one is supposed to train to run a marathon.
2. Up until the race:
- fried food only once a week
- eat proper dinners (not toasted cheese sandwich meals)
- no red bull, bbq shapes, crisps or savoy biscuits
Will pause here as my mind has become distracted thinking about how much I love savoy biscuits and whether I should in fact strike that item from the list as I love them so much... No - they're still banned.
Right, where were we before my dry biscuit diversion?
3. Drink 2 litres of water/day
4. Commit to my training programme (4 x runs a week minimum)
5. Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night.
Does any of this actually translate to me getting out there and doing the training? I hope so. 42km is a long way if I'm 10kg heaver thanks to a summer of beer and bread as my sole diet.
I probably should have gone for a long run today so I'd have something to good start the year with, but tiredness from New Year's Eve and incessant rain has meant that this is more of a 'mental preparation day'.
So time to charge up my garmin, work out an actual training plan and actually take the first step out the door and begin my training!
In October 2013 My Dad and friend Rhi both ran the Melbourne Marathon. I ran the 10km event and after puffing my way round the course in a pedestrian 53mins I felt little qualified to join in the running conversation when we went out for lunch afterwards. Deciding that it'd been on my "one day" list long enough I bit the bullet and entered the Canberra Marathon.
That was the easy bit and with 5 months til the starter's gun would be fired it was easy to imagine that I'd get all the training done, have reached my goal race-weight and be completely mentally prepared for the event. But have I bitten off more than I can chew?
January 1st has rolled around and I'm faced with the reality that this year will be the one that I'm attempting to run my first marathon; not some far off "next year" event but now. This year. Staring me right in the face and ironically I can't run from it any more. The excesses of the festive period behind me I've run out of delay time and must begin the journey - or else face the consequences (namely 5 plus hours of pain and humiliation).
So - to begin...
A few weeks ago I set out a list of New Year Goals/Resolutions that I'd follow to assist my on my path to marathon running. They are:
1. No alcohol - except for Australia Day (26.01), My best friend's wedding (15.02), Labour Day weekend (08.03) and when I catch up with my friend Pete to ask him how the hell one is supposed to train to run a marathon.
2. Up until the race:
- fried food only once a week
- eat proper dinners (not toasted cheese sandwich meals)
- no red bull, bbq shapes, crisps or savoy biscuits
Will pause here as my mind has become distracted thinking about how much I love savoy biscuits and whether I should in fact strike that item from the list as I love them so much... No - they're still banned.
Right, where were we before my dry biscuit diversion?
3. Drink 2 litres of water/day
4. Commit to my training programme (4 x runs a week minimum)
5. Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night.
Does any of this actually translate to me getting out there and doing the training? I hope so. 42km is a long way if I'm 10kg heaver thanks to a summer of beer and bread as my sole diet.
I probably should have gone for a long run today so I'd have something to good start the year with, but tiredness from New Year's Eve and incessant rain has meant that this is more of a 'mental preparation day'.
So time to charge up my garmin, work out an actual training plan and actually take the first step out the door and begin my training!
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